Rouffignac Saint Cernin de Reilhac

Rouffignac Saint Cernin de Reilhac

This commune is situated on the edge of the Barade forest on one of the highest hills in the Black Périgord. The landscape is breathtaking, encompassing hills, small valleys and impressive forests.

The castle of l’Herm built at the end of the 15th century is the symbol of the Barade forest but after a series of terrible crimes committed there, it was abandoned. The writer Eugene Leroy made it the scene of his classic Jacquou le Croquant

The architecture of Rouffignac is quite different from that of surrounding villages, the result of its tragic history in the Second World War. On the 31st March 1944 it was completely destroyed by incendiary bombs Only the church with its portal dating from 1530 and perpendicular-style interior together with several nearby houses was spared. The village was entirely rebuilt in 1948.
Here you can visit La Grotte de Rouffignac, known as the Cave of the 100 Mammouths with 150 prehistoric cave paintings of mammouths dating from the middle and end of the Magdalenian era, i.e.11000 BC.